We have one more word to say, though we suppose
we shall be thought mad for saying it. It is that the old economists were perfectly right when they sought a remedy for poverty in raising the standard of living and the standard of desire for the poor. We want to see more "divine discontent" among them and less pouring of unctuous rhetoric from the top. If we are told that we risk revolution by encouraging such discontent, we are quite willing to risk it if only we can strengthen the will of the poor and the destitute. It is in the want of will-power that in the last resort lie half the evils of social misery. Unless we can get men to brace themselves to effort, our gifts by Act of Parliament, our Minimum Statutory Wage, and all our legislative philanthropy will prove of no avail. If we can awaken effort we shall soon need little else. A religious conversion, if it is sincere, is worth a, wilderness of social reform, even if judged only by material results. We say in all reverence and truth that the prayers of the signatories of the manifesto are worth far more than the Acts of Parliament they most of them desire.
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